FIRST TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Alright, that seems like more than enough time to poke around the crime scene. Gather at the vault door, won’t you? It seems that for many of you it will be a short walk.

[ Once you’re all gathered at the vault door, Angel meets you there and quietly taps a keycard to the side of it. There’s an enormous whirring and grinding from inside as various mechanisms within the door move and whir - until with one last shuddering thud, the door starts to swing inwards, revealing a fully-glass tunnel leading off the side of the plateau the base is built on. Small lights built into the floor illuminate as you walk forward, until finally they light up an enormous elevator, perfectly capable of holding the twenty-four of you.

Angel comes too, putting a few numbers into a keypad just outside the door and inserting her card key once everyone is inside. She’ll gestures to get in if anyone seems unsure, but doesn’t really speak or enter the car herself. ]

Going down.

[ And down the elevator goes, leaving the lights of the facility behind - from here everyone can even see some parts of the facility you don’t have access to, it’s bigger than you realized. But it’s a long and uncomfortable ride to the depths, at least a minute or two before the elevator stops.

When the doors open, enough lights flash on to show that you’ve reached the ocean floor, some distance below even the depths you knew before. Lights around the outside of the massive glass dome you've found yourselves in illuminate the barren depths of the sea, with little if any ocean life to currently disrupt it.

At the top of the dome, among the lights, is an outward-facing circle of five or six different screens, each showing the telltale spiral that indicates The Professor is as present as he ever is.

Below them, of course, are the podiums, a circle of simple metal stands with some kind of video screen embedded into each, though they’re turned off for now. Each of your names is carved into one of them, though the podium constructed for Aela seems to have been just set to display a blank red light.

The screens lower down until they’re too close to eye level for anyone’s comfort. ]

Welcome to the trial room. You have as long as you need to discover who among you killed The Huntress. Once you have, I will explain further action. Take your places.

[ The screens rise back up - welcome to your first trial. ]

Comments

[archboxer]

Seteth would not have done this. If he had, I would know.

[emberserker]

He is your loyal disciple, isn't he? That would make sense, if we're to believe you.

[archboxer]

He is-- [She's about to say something else but she stops herself to change the direction of her sentence.] A loyal member of the church and a personal friend. You have no reason to distrust me, Anna.

[emberserker]

[sigh]

At this point, we've all got reason to distrust one another.

[archboxer]

You are merely sowing seeds of distrust and discord. We must be cautious and not point fingers so readily.

[emberserker]

Fine.

[why this]

[archboxer]

We are not the enemy. Thank you.

[because]

[fivestagegod]

...I'd actually argue that Anna is right, though. Someone here is the enemy, seeing as someone is currently dead and one of us did it. This is a totally appropriate situation to distrust everyone.

[archboxer]

If you wish to go down that route let me offer the idea that it might have not even be a man. We have no definite proof that it was, do we?

[fivestagegod]

I never said we did, and I'm not saying Seteth did anything, either, so you can stop defending him in my direction, if you don't mind.

All I'm saying is that we really can't trust that someone didn't do something just because someone else said they didn't. Even if you, specifically, are not the enemy here, that doesn't change the fact that somebody is and they don't seem too forthcoming about announcing that fact. Suspicion is warranted and that doesn't change just because somebody says it isn't.

[archboxer]

Of course there is an enemy but we must be careful in accusing anyone. Doing so falsely will only lead to more arguing and wasting of time. The Goddess will guide us to the right answer.

[pimpplan]

[ did someone talk about trusting others because :) ]

Calling it pointing fingers is a bit much, don't you think?

We've all known each other, what, almost two weeks? I'd think that's not enough time to really get a good judge on that. Unless everyone wants to start talking about what was in their envelopes.

[ Which, no. ]

[archboxer]

Seteth has been my adviser for over twenty years. I believe that is cause enough for me to defend his name.

[Ahem.]

Besides... there are others that would have more to gain from blaming each other. If you wish to know what is in our envelopes I would be happy to divulge that it was ultimately minor financial scandal involving my predecessor. Nothing more, nothing less.

Is that enough?

[mouflon]

No offense, Rhea, but none of us have any way to verify that. And we're in the middle of a murder investigation. Everyone here is a suspect, whether you like it or not.

[archboxer]

You have no way to disprove it either. Unless you have more proof than whether he understands the use of a washing machine, I suggest looking elsewhere.

[mouflon]

Keeping him in our pool of suspects isn't going to kill him, unless it turns out there is more evidence to suggest he's the killer. If he's innocent, it shouldn't be a problem, right?

[archboxer]

Of course he is innocent. Now, please, focus on more important things.

[mouflon]

Yeah, you're right. You're clearly living in a dream world where we can rule out suspects at your say-so, so there's no point in arguing with you.

[archboxer]

Ah, yes, a claim made by an already notorious criminal. I am truly insulted.

[mouflon]

[ Rin snorts. ]

I'm not surprised someone like you would decide my actions are in the wrong without knowing anything about them. People in power are always the same.

[nothingcanstop]

You guys, can we stop sniping at each other? We a murder to solve here!

[mouflon]

As long as she stops trying to shut down the lightest inquiry, we're good.

[archboxer]

Pardon me for having loyalty.

[Unlike you.]

[archboxer]

I will say it again, Seteth is innocent and if we listen to the logic of Miss Tohsaka then we will all end up like Aela. Let us actually try to find the true culprit.

[onefuture]

Della's right. We have to focus here, or else we're all goners.