FIRST TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Eventually, time seems to run out. Davy Jones takes a lap around the boat, rather tersely instructing everyone to gather in the theatre.

Once everyone is inside, he herds all of you onto the stage, which has been cleared save for the controls to the elaborate pipe organ built into the room. ]

Step lively, passengers! There's a long ride ahead of ye!

[ And once everyone is on that stage, Davy Jones sits at his organ and begins to play. It's not a familiar song to any of you, and it doesn't sound kind, but it does sound wildly complicated. Or it would be, for someone who can't play with his many tentacles.

As the piece begins, the stage begins to descend. Well, at least the part you're all on, as well as where Jones sits at the organ. And it keeps descending, at least through a few floors before long. The elevator shaft is dark, the music echoing until it fades, the controls apparently too far from the pipe organ above before long. Jones sits in silence as the cramped ride continues. Dull bulbs set into the wall provide just enough illumination to tell where you all are, but the walls are thick steel.

You have to have descended several floors, you imagine, when light starts to creep in at the edges of the platform, along with voices. They sound distant and distorted, but the first thing you hear when the platform breaks into the trial room is men singing, rough and distant.

You can also see the... surprisingly somber room, considering where you are. The walls and floor are all made of glass, allowing you a view of the sea as the ship you now stand on the very lowest deck of pushes through the water. Lights illuminate enough to tell that it is indeed water out there, but the water is perhaps not the most interesting thing out there in the dark.

Below the ship, illuminated by a ghostly aura, sails (for lack of a more fitting word) The Flying Dutchman. If you look closely, sailors more monster than anything else man the deck, and seem to be the source of the song. Davy Jones casts the ship a sad look, then stops a foot on the floor and the song quiets. ]

Take your places, passengers. Ye have this chance alone to find the killer among yer number.

[ In the center of the room stands a circle of sturdy metal podiums. Carmen's seems to be almost... decades older than the rest, coated in rust and barnacles. In the center hangs a circle of screens, currently switched off. ]

If there are questions, I am going anywhere no sooner than the lot of you.

[ Jones moves to look out the window, leaving you all to talk amongst yourselves.

Welcome to your first trial. ]

Comments

[paucipan]

[Bless you, Constantine. Plumeria looks over as all of the evidence is being reviewed over, placing the hat on her podium just to keep it in eyeshot.]

Hm...just from everything we've witnessed so far, there are a few possibilities. The red-clad woman could have been in the library and went to the buffet to get herself a midnight snack, and ran into conflict on her way back through, which resulted in her untimely demise in the ocean and planting the body in the pool...

[...But hm, the more she thinks about it--]

You know, I've been giving it some thought, and there is something about the victim that's been making me wonder...did anyone see how she reacted to the motive, perhaps?

[jibunwo]

That is a good angle to examine, if we should be stalled at the course of events. I don't recall having seen her reaction, but perhaps we can consider who may have enemies dangerous enough to kill over.

[paucipan]

I'm mostly curious because of something she said to me. She was in the middle of a rescue mission, when I first talked to her. Someone like that has at least a few enemies.

[But that's a fair point, actually.]

I suppose I'm just wondering if our innocent victim may not have been so innocent. That's all. But there are plenty of other angles to examine, for now.

[jibunwo]

You mean to imply our victim as a murderer gone wrong? A bold assumption.

[paucipan]

But not an entirely incorrect one, is it? It's an angle to consider.

Think about it! Perhaps she was the one out looking for an opportunity to strike. She gets in over her head because the potential victim actually fights back, and...well, the rest we could suss out later, so we don't get distracted.

[But hey, she's putting it out there.]

[jibunwo]

...Interesting.

If I might be so bold, to take such an angle so suddenly almost sounds as if you are the one providing the distraction.

[paucipan]

[Plumeria takes one look at that and her face sours.]

Absolutely not! I would prefer to get out of this room with everyone intact, thank you! It was something that was bothering me, so I thought to bring it up!

[excuse you???]

[jibunwo]

[hm. perhaps.]

There's no need to be so defensive. I too was merely pointing out something bothering me, far from leveling an accusation.

[paucipan]

[Plumeria just looks away at that, glowering.]

It certainly sounded like you were leveling something at me. And I have no reason to want to distract anyone. It's just something that bothered me, the more I thought about it.

[onlyyoucan]

...She wanted to get everyone out, but... she had dangerous enemies. And something she was desperate to get back to.

[scouserer]

[Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!]

I don't think so. But there were certainly a few other people who reacted quite visibly towards the motive.

[He casts a small glance towards Freyja, but averts his eyes quickly.]

[dokkalfheimr]

[...]

A fair point, John Constantine. I imagine it a valid angle to examine as well.

[paucipan]

[...Oh, something in Plumeria's expression goes very sour when he looks at Lady Freyja.]

Be that as it may, we shouldn't start accusing people blindly because of that. There's plenty of other angles we need to examine.

[She's not quite going into attack mode yet, but uh. Plumeria's not taking to that well, sorry.]

[scouserer]

[This is fine. He definitely notices that little shift in demeanor.]

Of course. But it is an angle we should consider, sooner or later.

[paucipan]

We can consider it when it becomes necessary. No sooner. Lady Freyja would never.

[i'm so sorry about this.]

[scouserer]

[He raises his hands in a defensive gesture, raising an eyebrow. In a level tone of voice--]

Hey--I didn't say anything.

[dokkalfheimr]

I imagine that if you thought I had done anything at all, then there would be evidence to support your claim. Is this correct?

[It's not pointed, just a question.]

[scouserer]

Correct. Believe it or not, I don't always just go blabbin' my mouth without thinking.

[Though it happens more frequently than not.....]

[paucipan]

[Plumeria tenses at that, just--]

...Fine. I just didn't like the look you were giving her, that's all.