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

[deathmagnetic]

[ Well anyway, today he's brought along his spear. It's certainly obvious since he couldn't exactly hide the thing. But more importantly... ]

I looked over at Albedo's body in the bowling alley. He had been ostensibly crushed completely by the pin setter, to the point where only a portion of his top half was available for investigation.

[ So, yeah. ]

Interestingly enough, despite not being found near any body of water, his hair was drenched with water. He had no water in his mouth or lungs, for that matter, so this wasn't an issue of him being drowned before being placed where he was.

Additionally, his right hand was missing. How it was taken from him, I can't be too sure, given the general condition of his body. [ It's bad, fam. ] And unfortunately, that's all the information I was able to glean, given the circumstances. I wasn't able to find anything that would point to how exactly he was killed, though I suspect that's the intention behind the end result of his body's condition.

[cethflayn]

[Albedo, too?

Flayn, already wilted at her podium to see Sara's in its deteriorated state, looks to the podium next to her as well and shudders.

Sorry, she's. In a state.]

cw hand

[scythegun]

[Yeager comes to the trial today with a sword and something wrapped in a towel, and given how done he looks already, this isn't going to be fun. He sets the towel gingerly on his podium and lifts the sword to start.]

I investigated the bowling alley with Magica and Risotto. There were marks on the walls that seem to have been sword strikes - and given this blade, that makes sense.

[The blade in question is Albedo's! You likely saw him wielding it when Allenby went off a few trials back.]

As you can see, the blade is damaged - which I'm fairly sure would line up perfectly with those strikes, but I believe Magica has more information on those.

[And so, moving on to the other matter at hand...]

I also found this next to the sword.

[He unwraps the towel to reveal— oh god that's a human hand. It's Albedo's right hand!]

It looks as though it was torn off, likely with a claw. There wasn't anything else of note about it, though.

[So he probably could have just left it behind, but you know. Sometimes these things happen and you just have to bring a human hand to a trial to inflict in on everyone else, it's fine!!]

[ahelpingpaw]

Another...one...?

[He completely missed that Albedo was dead, too busy going away to investigate very far away of the piano lounge. Good grief this day keeps getting worse and worse. WHAT ELSE IS NEW ON MURDERCRUISE]

Uh, that's--that's pretty bad. Did anyone find the hand? M-Maybe it's near water or...something.

[Like a clue of where he may have been killed]

[deathmagnetic]

[ Well, at least he's not going to draw attention to it. ]

cw gore

[thisaroma]

[ Decus takes his place, and for a long moment, he looks past Data to Alice's empty, rusted podium.

But then he shakes himself out of it and clears his throat. ]

Uh... Data and I looked at Sara's body in the piano lounge. It... actually looked like she'd been attacked by a monster? She was torn open by what looked like claws or teeth, and a bunch of her organs were gone.

[ He... says that pretty matter of factly, but also, he's seen plenty of monster attacks, so this isn't anything super shocking to him. ]

There was nothing that actually looked like it had been done by a weapon... oh, though Sara was still holding a knife herself.

[ Looks at Data in case he forgot something? ]

[cethflayn]

[thanks risotto, you're a pal]

[scythegun]

I did, ja.

[I'm so sorry, Filbo, you do not deserve this.]

cw: missing organs

[cethflayn]

Wh-

[What do you mean gone]

Where...a-are you certain they were not...in the vicinity?

[Wow Flayn doesn't like this!!!]

this is the CW party. CW: vore

[silentscout]

Something ate them.

[He sounds Tired.]

[deathmagnetic]

[ Sometimes you gotta be thorough and help ensure everyone has a firm grip on the situation. ]

We can conclude that clearly he didn't go down without a fight. Though, it didn't seem to do much against...whatever type of beast this was.

cw: vore......

[ltcommandroid]

That does seem likely.

[Nothing to add here!]

cw hand

[paucipan]

[...That's fucking lovely, joy of joys. And she's right next to Yeager too and this is just what she needed to see today! Great!!]

He must have been trying to fend off an attack. [Gods, this is awful.] Tearing off someone's hand, though...talk about excessive.

[ahelpingpaw]

...aaaah...th-there it is. Good thing you're all the way over there.

[The sight of the hand makes him shudder, but at least Yeager's far away enough for Filbo to not see it in a lot of detail. Still, he can't help but stare right at it in the same way you stare at a dangerous viper that could bite you]

I guess if there had been any water near it you'd have mentioned it already so...I got nothing.

[Oh well. The trial's just starting, there's plenty of time to find the right answers to everything this case has]

[sivard]

[What the absolute fuck, why would you bring that to the trial.]

There were blade marks all over the walls of the Piano Lounge too. I imagine it must have been from that same sword.

[jibunwo]

[Zero's back in his mask after a quick detour to his room, Emily sitting neatly on the floor behind his podium. When he spoke up it was completely deadpan and almost clinical:]

I found Emily in the arcade, in the second player spot for House of the Dead. It looked like whoever had been playing--Sara, I can only assume--had lost and the gun was tossed aside.

CW: Emeto

[cethflayn]

[





Okay look I'm sorry but she's just going to tremble for about fifteen seconds before crouching down behind her podium and retching. It's. Just bile.]

I - I am sorry - I did not mean to...

[If she's in trouble she'll clean the trial room, she promises]

cw: organs

[dokkalfheimr]

[She looks a little pale, but...]

Ah, there was also no...indication that the organs had gone anywhere. No trails of blood or bile, they were simply gone. So I would assume Lalli's conclusion to be correct.

[jibunwo]

Agreed.

[just. completely fucking deadpan. fuck today.]

[scythegun]

[bless you lum]

Ja, that's my thought as well. It sounds as though what happened to Sara lines up rather well with this... but I'm not sure how the... [waves a hand] bowling alley itself comes into this?

[The pin setter that crushed Albedo, he means.]

[cethflayn]

[So like after Flayn has a sick moment and coughs a bit-]

E-Emily...! Is she okay? Is she unharmed?

[jibunwo]

I saw nothing strange about her, but I brought her with me just in case.

cw: vore

[sivard]

That's.....

cw vore/organs... vorgans

[thisaroma]

Yeah, that's what I assumed.

cw hand

[scythegun]

[you get to see the hand up close!! you probably don't deserve this.]

Ja, that sounds right. It would seem that his attacker had far more strength than he was expecting; I don't believe he was an inexperienced fighter at all. So we're looking for someone with claws and strength capable of this.