WEEK 5; TRIAL

[killerwaves]

TRIAL

Three dead, one vote. This might be a pit of a pickle, huh? Perhaps appropriately, the kittybots are serving pickles of all flavors today, along with food that might remind you of your childhood like ants on a log, gummy worm sundaes and adorable toast in sweet and savory profiles. To drink, are their best attempts at replicating the DD refreshers with a whole array of silly straws.

Off to the side in a booth of their own are the bodies as well as attendant kittybots (well two bodies and one arm); simply request which body you'd like to look at and the kitty bots will direct you appropriately, given the number of arms floating around. The kittybots continue to do their best.

(( OOC: Welcome to your third trial! You'll have 7 hours (8PM EST/5PM PST) to vote one (1) person guilty of murder. 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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Lab Lab Lab

[chosenwang]

Lacus and I arrived at the lab and there was a poison gas of some sort loose in there. I contacted our local expert to look over the chemicals, while I checked out the destruction. First, there was a cabinet with a bloody dent in it. It was something oval in shape and was made with quite a bit of force.

Then there was a blood trail leading over to the freezer. I found bloody finger prints on the handle, which appears to be a match for Zelkov's hand. Inside of the freezer was his missing hand with a ring on it. It may be the ring from his profile. [ A look at Lacus. Help us Lacus Kenobi. You're our only hope of confirming anything about it. ]

His hand looked like it was crushed, but there wasn't a significant amount of blood inside of the freezer. Just on the outside and by the cabinet.

Mods!

[idologue]

[ Lacus is going to come over and take a look at the ring. She's spent a lot of time with Zelkov, and she's had him transform for her up close and personal during last trial.

Is this his usual ring? ]

[killerwaves]

[Lacus will indeed recognize his usual ring!]

[idologue]

The ring is Zelkov's. He used it in order to transform into the white haired stronger version of himself that we have seen before.

[ Why would someone shut it in the freezer...?! ]

moving to here

[chosenwang]

[ Actually that answers half the things. ]

Do you think he would have wanted to keep it safe? [ Just to kill that theory in one go ] His prints were the only ones on the door, and I don't want to go back to it later on.

[idologue]

... I don't know. The ring was the source of his powers - they were borrowed from someone else, for the sake of battle.

So while I understand that he'd want to keep the ring out of other people's hands, his whole arm....

[ She trails off. She has no idea what to make out of the dismemberment. ]

[gravitys]

This might sound stupid, but a hand on ice - and his fingerprints on the door. Maybe he just wanted to be able to reattach it later? Like...keepin' it fresh?

[ He feels stupid suggesting it but it's all he's thinking of. ]

[chosenwang]

I wouldn't think he would cut his arm, but there isn't enough blood inside of the freezer. The bloody finger prints on the handle matched him, and I could only use two fingers to open it without disturbing the prints.

So it's clear he was opening the freezer. Perhaps to get to some where safe while the air was polluted or to hide from whomever he was fighting with. There was blood outside of the freezer... [ He's going to pull out his phone. ] I'm assuming his arm was removed then and either he tossed it into the freezer himself or the killer did seeing the freezer already opened.

[ The blood part bugs him though because there is only blood from you know... arm chilling there and not any splatter or spray from it getting removed ]

Admittedly, it might not be important to focus on who did it at this point.

Lab Chemicals

[solutionary]

Wang Lu requested that I come double check the chemicals in the lab. There were two glassware that look to have fallen off of the workbench, labeled sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid. They were close enough, that spilling and combining them must have been what caused the poisonous gas.

There was also another mystery liquid that didn't show any signs of being a mixture of compounds, or at least not a mixture that was unstable enough to react with itself. I brought that one here with me [in the box he's holding here, with it safely capped] in case it proved useful.

[idologue]

Do you think the chlorine gas was created on accident or intentionally?

Either way, Zelkov's body suggests it happened while he was still alive, so the culprit was likewise in the room with him.

[ And she has a Thought here, but let's keep this slow for now. ]

[necrotiem]

[oh same thought possibly]

So they would have needed to be able to get away with minimal effects.

[chrysaline]

How many people would have been able to make that intentionally...?

[ Is this common modern knowledge? She has no context. ]

[necrotiem]

Ah? [Turning her head thoughtfully.] It's not the sort of work I do. I couldn't say.

It wouldn't hurt to gather all our poison experts on the laboratory evidence and see if anything sticks out.

[chrysaline]

I don't think we have that many of those, but it seems like a place to start...

[idologue]

... indeed. If there are no signs of poisoning on anybody here, then either the culprit came prepared... or they were immune.

[finalmix]

Or healed up. Healing extends to poisons too, right?

[ they still have some healers left? ]

[idologue]

Ah. That's true.

[diabolizes]

And I suppose they could heal physical evidence of the poisoning as well...

[dupiety]

Not necessarily in every case. Typically, my healing tends to cover physical injuries rather than poisonings.

[diabolizes]

I agree. Given that Zelkov had blisters on his face and his hand... someone took preventative measures, or was immune.

[necrotiem]

Let's not be hasty...

How did you and Wang Lu get inside again? Could they have done the same?

[dupiety]

A mystery liquid...?

[He's curious to take a peek at it.]

[solutionary]

[Temenos is free to look in the box! The clear liquid is in a glass beaker that Baizhu sealed, along with another bottle and the empty/broken ones that were on the floor. ]

Yes, it was on the bench next to a container of acetone. The acetone was open, but I didn't see prints on it or the unlabeled beaker. I've got some gloves in the box as well, if you would like to handle anything. I didn't want to try mixing the liquid with anything, since there was already one poison in the air.

[dupiety]

[He'll go ahead and put on those gloves so he can handle the beaker.

Before he decides to unseal the bottle, does it theoretically look like it could just be plain old acetone in there?]

[killerwaves]

[ It theoretically could yes, but we will note that Baizhu or anyone else familiar with chemistry could you tell there are a lot of clear liquids in the realm of chemistry. ]