THIRD TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Two bodies this week. As a result, it's a little longer before Mayor Fontaine's voice calls out over the loudspeakers. ]

All right, that'll do, all of you. Get to the bathyspheres. Trial time.

[ There's fewer bathyspheres this week, aren't there? It's starting to get really noticeable. One by one, alone or in pairs, you descend into the depths. The bottom of the seafloor, a place no human life was meant to travel to unassisted. It's dark, until it isn't, the same bio-luminescent slugs as before lighting up the area and revealing the great glass dome in which the trial takes place.

Within, three more podiums have gone dark. They remain empty as you all gather around into the circle.

The projector clicks on, and you see the silhouette of Mayor Fontaine above you. ]

We all know why we're here. Florida Man and Cryptobro got themselves got. Up to you to figure out who did it, or... well, you know by now.

[ Welcome to your third trial. ]

Comments

[honeyedtea]

This black fabric – was it scorched black or did it come that way naturally?

[bootyhunter]

Good question, Blondie.

Did it look burnt?

[pairtner]

It's too damaged to figure out the color, but it's...blackish.

[Aiba scowls, not liking to use such vague terminology.

But yeah, seems it's scorched]

[inaclearing]

Was it...cut off of something? [But the killer had the only blade, presumably.] Or...I don't know, burned off?

[pairtner]

Unknown. It was too small and damaged to know.

[Aiba makes another face, not liking to not be able to give an answer on this regard. It's a vexing piece of scrap!]

[inaclearing]

Obviously whoever it was must have changed clothes anyway. But it just seems weird. It doesn't sound like Jason put up a fight with anything except the fire.

[pairtner]

His other power involved the ability to create a hologram of himself. However that one is unlikely to leave any traces.

That said, perhaps some of the fire and the scorching found was from the killer targeting that illusion.

[inaclearing]

...and that's why the grenade didn't really get Jason?

[pairtner]

I believe so. While there were scorching and burns on him, none of it indicated it came from getting blasted with fire. The burns on his arms were small, perhaps caused by his own use of that power during combat, but they don't match a large explosion.

[buriedstar]

[ Hm. ]

Given that there was fire and some kind of explosion, we should look into fire damage. I checked for injuries but there's still the possibility of clothing getting damaged or tracking ash on their shoes.

Assuming they didn't change. There's the piece of black fabric too, which also might be burned.

[pairtner]

Ash on their shoes is likelier.

[Well! Sounds like a plan]

[buriedstar]

They'd be really stupid to not change their clothing after, yeah.

[hotpaprika]

Perhaps we should make another mental note of who we've seen in the past who has worn black clothing. It didn't quite help us last week but perhaps it's another thing to keep in mind.

[buriedstar]

I imagine that's most of us.

[daimakaicho]

It seems like as good of an idea as any since we're going in circles. Seeing if anything is suspiciously clean might be of use, too.

[buriedstar]

Mm, I guess being too perfect can be a crime, noona~.