SEVENTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ After a while, Davy Jones comes and collects you all again. It's a much quicker trip than he's ever had to take for you all before. You all fit so easily into the elevator in the theatre now, don't you?

As he plays the song that takes you down, even Jones seems tired. But the elevator certainly isn't, moving just as dramatically into the depths of the ship as it ever has. You now know all the floors it passes on its trip down to the trial room, don't you?

And none of you even know that this is your last ride down. The end is coming. But that's for later, and not quite yet for all of you.

The crew of the Dutchman is... different, somehow, this week. There are more figures aboard, and they're all singing, well. Maybe Scott was right, that first week. ]

Ye know what to do, passengers.

[ Jones moves to the wall to look out at his ship, scowling.

The podiums are waiting.

Welcome to your seventh trial.

Comments

[magycks]

[ this is a wildly charitable interpretation of her actions and statements but you know what, man, she'll take it! ]

[ahelpingpaw]

Did the killer throw Jasper's body down the stairs...? Or could he still have been alive when that happened...?

[Depends on what the cause of death may have been, really. Still, if somebody took Jasper around and then pushed him off the stairs that's seriously rude, wow]

[ltcommandroid]

I was experiencing some minor instability immediately following the incident, but it has resolved.

[scythegun]

Ja. I can't imagine how they would have managed to get him to fall down the stairs if they were already down there to use the taser on you... but that setup would make for a good way to distract you so they could ensure they hit you with the taser and didn't have to try to fight you.

[sivard]

I don't know... I think it's kind of strange he wasn't just left in the water. It's a lot less work than concocting this whole scenario of framing three different people, isn't it?

[magycks]

Believe me, you'd all have heard about that. [ And the revelation would be annoying as hell and set at a decibel usually used to call dogs! ] I mean, I suppose if they waited around long enough they could probably pick up the odd loose feather now and again?

[scythegun]

I think it's possible Jasper was still alive. If we assume he fell down the stairs and wasn't terribly injured, by the time he picked himself back up he likely would see the killer with the taser, and Data knocked out. I don't know if that's exactly what happened, but I think it makes more sense than the killer somehow setting Jasper's corpse up to fall down the stairs at exactly the right moment to cause a distraction for Data.

But either way, I do think that's what happened - Jasper fell down the stairs, which explains the damage to the armor and the torn cloak.

[cethflayn]

Perhaps...

[Look she's not really inclined to ask if Magica molts or sheds or something, that's invasive.]

[scouserer]

[Constantine nods slowly.]

But perhaps that's exactly why they didn't leave him there--just to muddle things up and make things more confused.

[scythegun]

Considering the "poison" symptoms around his nose and mouth, it certainly could have been done to disguise drowning. I'm hardly an expert when it comes to that.

[why couldn't jasper have been killed by a weapon...... that's his area of expertise!!!]

[magycks]

Oh! Or that was the noise he investigated, and they were already pushing him down a lower flight.

[magycks]

You're welcome! And thank you for wasting your time on it, as I clearly didn't do this one, for the seventh time!

[scythegun]

[...okay he knows this looks bad given the massive scythe he's carrying, but—]

Considering just how heavy that armor is, I'm honestly not sure how many of us actually could have moved him. Much less fished him out from the water.

[jibunwo]

Would it not be simpler to assume he was in the process of being dragged down the stairs? Armor would certainly make a similar noise regardless, and it's likely the killer heard Data happening by on chance.

[jibunwo]

Are you implying that he might still have been alive rather than having drowned, in that case?

[magycks]

[ Immediately misinterpreting this: ]

Oh, you don't trust me?

[scythegun]

Either way would work well, ja! Being dragged down the stairs would likewise leave dents in the armor and the ripped cloak.

[cethflayn]

No, in this instance I do trust you. I was just thinking of other ways a person might steal feathers, and frankly, I do not think they are very polite to speculate aloud about.

[magycks]

Wouldn't Data have noticed the body? Hold on, where was he coming from in the first place?

... Or maybe they were sort of fireman-carrying him the rest of the way and only dropped him after the first few flights.

[ahelpingpaw]

Well, uh...I dunno much about how waterproof the armor is? But he had been thrown inside maybe the clothes and stuff would have been wet. Maybe instead he was brought there when he was already dead and then just...got his head underwater for a moment, enough to get his head wet?

[In which case he didn't drown, really]

If he was alive it must have been tough to hold someone who probably would be struggling all the time.

[ltcommandroid]

I was already on the fifth floor, near the entrance to the mirror maze. I did not have a clear view of the stairwell on approach.

[scythegun]

No. I think what we've discussed makes the most sense. Data seems like the only one who would be able to retrieve Jasper from underwater and move him about so, but Data was knocked out. So either Data did all of this and knocked himself out somehow, or... well, perhaps someone's secretly much stronger than they look. Maybe it's another case of possession.

[Not exactly a satisfying answer, but now he's just glancing over in Davy Jones' direction...]

[magycks]

Alright, so you were there already, and you only heard the clanging noises the once... and correct me if I'm wrong, but none of the other stairwells had loose cloak bits, did they?

[ltcommandroid]

I would have been able to do that - although I believe I could also have simply lifted him and avoided the damage to his armor and clothing.

[ltcommandroid]

I do not believe so.

[But like, he didn't do much investigating this time.]