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

FOOT CHECK 2: NOT JUST FOR GEMS

[mouflon]

Hey, since we're already talking about bloody shoes, I'm just going to go around and check everyone's elses. And... I don't know, Rhea can check mine, since you know she'll be honest about whatever's on them.

[ Rin will be checking the size of everyone's feet against her own, as well as looking for any blood residue. ]

[bolderfell]

...Fine.

[Therion's shoes aren't bloody, at least, and also kinda just look like bags tied on his feet with string?]

[snackooed]

I'm so sorry you have to eyeball this. If I had my luminol, this would've been a cinch...

[ Ema's got a pretty small shoe size, so no match here with regard to the size. She was pretty careful not to step in any of the spray while she was investigating, either... ]

[philoxenia]

[ She's too small, again--there isn't any residue, either, since she was pretty careful not to step in blood when she was taking the photos! ]

[nothingcanstop]

[ i don't know what to say here

for organization's sake, they sure as shit don't match ]

[baitless]

[Seteth’s boots are dry and blood-free, at the very least!]

[emberserker]

[Anna isn't a match and doesn't have any blood on her shoes.]

Let's hope this does something.

[blackmass]

[kirei's are not bloody]

[bogwife]

[Zerinda gives a little shrug but hikes up her skirts and presents her feet without complaint. She's wearing heavy black leather boots that look like they have old dried mud caked in the cracks but no blood. They are not a match.]

[onefuture]

[Lif's feet don't have any bloody residue on them, at the very least.

But they sure do match pretty closely with the size of the feet in question.]

[emberserker]

[He was on her list...]

What were you up to last night, anyway?

[onefuture]

Reading, for the most part. I had brought some books from the library in with me while I did, and stayed in my room, as I did not elect to join the movie night that was being hosted.

[emberserker]

I don't blame you for that. It wasn't all that entertaining. Even so, it's a bit suspect not to attend, isn't it?

[philoxenia]

Not wanting to join isn't the most damning evidence out there, though.

[emberserker]

I know that for sure, but he's also fit all of the other criteria we're looking for. And of course, he must have as much of a secret as anyone.

[onefuture]

I suppose that it is.

[Lif's perhaps surprisingly calm when he answers that much.]

But I've never been one for large crowds. And I gather that such a night would have gathered a great many of people.

[mouflon]

[ Hm... Not totally surprising, but... ]

Hey, I'm sorry to ask this point blank, [ she does not sound sorry ] since we were talking about people who do or don't bleed already...

[ You have, like. A big weird glowing skeleton window? ]

[onefuture]

[Lif's eyes narrow a bit at Rin, and he crosses his arms a bit--over that chest. But Rin can clearly see that he does have one.]

You aren't the first to ask, and won't be the last. What is it?

[One of his hands goes to play with his cloak a little bit, but he's pretty calm despite that.]

[mouflon]

Well, do you? Because I think you might be the one person that fits the profile we've come up with.

[onefuture]

It's hard to say; I haven't been in any sort of conflict that would make me able to bleed. But functionally, I've been about as human as the rest of you.

[drladysounds]

Go ahead! Oh this makes me so nervous...

[Looks like Shelley has small feet, and no blood on them at all! They're nice shoes, though]

[archboxer]

The sooner this is over the sooner we can leave.

[Her feet are too small. There's no blood on them, either.]

[mouflon]

Agreed.

[ For the record, since she has magnanimously bestowed Rhea with this responsibility, Rin has nothing on her shoes. ]

[archboxer]

Clear.

[pimpplan]

[ Zelos' pristine white boots are not bloody. ]