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

[blackmass]

Tell me, then. Who among us appears the most shaken by the day's events? Yet more notable if such a name or names are not among those who were with the body.

[bolderfell]

[...

He glances sidelong at Piers.]

[blackmass]

[just...this face.]

[you're a smart cookie, therion.]

[onefuture]

[Most shaken, huh...]

Piers, quite obviously, but even then he doesn't seem like he'd have the stomach to manage that sort of task.

[...]

But I suppose...that would prove your theory, then, wouldn't it?

[blackmass]

It would indeed. I do believe it was stated we were seeking an adult male, as it was.

[bolderfell]

He doesn't even look like he weighs that much more than me, and he's much taller. Could he, physically?

[onefuture]

Appearances can be deceiving.

[emberserker]

And everyone's got secrets, so it isn't as if he's less likely than anyone else...

[obstagoodboy]

Honestly, I don't. Not worth killing for. The Professor at best might have embarrassing shit from my pokegram.

[bolderfell]

...True.

[hardnosed]

That limp little strand of nothing? You can't be serious.

[onefuture]

It's simply a possibility.

[He doesn't really believe it either, but hey, it's valid.]

[hardnosed]

There's 23 more. But if it was him, he'd be an idiot to try unarmed. And her — do you think she would have attacked that one first?

[onefuture]

[...]

I don't believe that she would have, no, but my beliefs in this situation can't be taken as fact.

[birkin kind of gave him an earful for that earlier]

[lovelikeyou]

Aela was much stronger than him, and trained in fighting. I don't think he could have snuck up on her, much less taken her knife.

[She doesn't love Jasper's tone, but it's a definite point. Anyway, Rose likes Piers!]

[hardnosed]

Not without some damage from combat. [ ... ] Do we know if she managed to fight back?

[lovelikeyou]

I'm not sure we do. The blood in the hallway could have come from that cut on her arm, if we believe the fight started there.

[And the blood in the library seems pretty conclusively from Aela.]

But I find it hard to believe she would have just run into the library and tried to defend herself with nothing more than throwing books. Even if it was someone she didn't want to harm, she was still a fighter. [...] There wasn't any blood on her hands, or anything?

[obstagoodboy]

... seriously mate? Look at me, you think I could take that tank of a woman down on my own? Without my pokemon?

[blackmass]

...Without your what, now?

[ladygeryon]

He's a Trainer, just like me. [Nira gestures to Aria, who is now curled around her legs and helping to keep her upright.]

[blackmass]

[...hm.]

[HM.]

And what manner of creature is it that accompanies him, normally?

[obstagoodboy]

I have a full team, but I didn't come with 'em, unlike Nira. I assume it's 'cuz hers helps her stay upright.

[obstagoodboy]

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting not all of you know- they're like a battle pet. Folks from my world don't really fight often. We use pokemon for that.

[blackmass]

And you find yourself lacking yours? What a terrible shame.

[obstagoodboy]

Yeah, bloody shame 'cuz I'd totally ask my friend to kill for me if I did.

[The sarcasm is thick]