FOURTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Well! That's sure something, isn't it? There may or may not be a lot of you excited to get down to business, but Jones does eventually move to collect you all and bring you to the theatre. It's a familiar routine by now, perhaps even comfortingly so given the irregularities of this particular killing.

Two of you gone this week. The elevator is started to feel downright spacious, don't you think?

A shanty, as usual, echoes from the crew of the Dutchman as you enter. The room is the same as it has ever been before you as the elevator settles into position. ]

To yer positions, passengers. Chins up.

[ Three more podiums claimed by the rust and wear.

You have your evidence, and you're going to need it before long. The music outside dies down.

Welcome to your fourth trial. ]

Comments

[ahelpingpaw]

I did find out there were essential oils missing! Everything smelled like it was from them, probably. And also there were wet sooty footprints, kinda, so...I suppose the killer was with the fire for a short while before leaving.

[scouserer]

[Constantine frowns, scratching the back of his neck.]

Did you happen to see what kind of footprints they were? Like...how big they were, so on and so forth.

[ahelpingpaw]

[Oh darn, sorry for not seeing this until now]

W-Well, uh, it's not like I tried to measure them exactly, but from what I remember they were kinda...like this? Kinda?

[He shows a size that definitely fits an adult male's size. Thank goodness the prints were well defined. But yeah, they weren't small]

I dunno if by human standards this is big or small or anything. All I know is that they're not paws and it wasn't Magica either.

[scouserer]

[All good!]

I think given what we know, between Albedo's sketchbook and his wet hair, it's probably safe to say that those footprints were his. So things probably started around the Spa.

[deathmagnetic]

[ ...coincidentally, he just got reminded of something. ]

Albedo's feet had soot on them, so they're likely to have been his.

[scouserer]

Could the other person have possibly gotten soot on their own shoes?

[deathmagnetic]

...Maybe.

At that point, however, I believe they would not be wearing shoes.

[scouserer]

[...Hm. Something occurred to him.]

If Albedo was being pursued, then there would've been a second set of footprints, wouldn't there? But as far as I'm aware, we only saw one set.

[queceracera]

[Scott's connected the dots.]

The werewolf can fly?!

[Nevermind, he hasn't connected shit.]

[scouserer]

For God's sake, it's not a werewolf! [A pause.] Probably!

[But Scott brings up a point.]

But, uh, in my experience, when it comes to possession, levitation's actually quite a common occurrence.

[guffawsungraciously]

I personally have to wonder if the smell would linger upon them. Admittedly, it is also quite possible it could have been washed off, but between the oils and the scent of smoke...

[paucipan]

...You know, that is a good point. Scent does have a tendency to linger when you least want it to.

[see exhibit a: alice last trial and her boyfriend's colonge]

[thisaroma]

[ He is oblivious to being called out here! ]

[silentscout]

Should I smell everyone?

[He's going to ask first instead of being a creeper like that one time.]

[scouserer]

I think it's not out of the question. They could've changed clothes, but there still would at least be faint hints of it.

[A pause.]

This is...only tangentially related, but Albedo wasn't at the seance last night, was he?

[paucipan]

...No, he wasn't there at all.

[The Seance kind of happened a lot last night, but.]

Definitely curious, to say the least...

[jibunwo]

Or the smell of blood, for that matter. I imagine our culprit must have showered at least, else one of us would be standing here covered in it.

[leaveittomother]

Wouldn't we notice if someone had burns?

[ahelpingpaw]

I dunno...soot's probably likelier. There was a lot of soot in those prints.

[And also soot gets around easier, so perhaps finding soot will help more than a burn? He thinks, at least]

[leaveittomother]

If they actually were on fire especially from an oil fire that'd be more than a little difficult not to get burned. Unless, of course, it wasn't the killer that was on fire.

[thisaroma]

I don't think there's any reason to assume someone got burned...? They probably just tracked soot from being in a place where things were burning.

[leaveittomother]

Hm, true. I wasn't in there but if it was quite a blaze they might have been burned.

[thisaroma]

It's possible, but I didn't even notice there was a fire in there when I checked that level before the bodies were found. So I mean, it wasn't bad enough to burn the door down at that point, at least?

mods!

[leaveittomother]

[Actually, was the door wood, mods?]

[leaveittomother]

The door is metal, Decus. It wouldn't have burned down.