Fourth Investigation

[bathymetric]

It's hard to tell that - of if - the motive has passed. The radios are the same, there are no missing powers, the day begins like any other. But there's something heavy hanging over you, the knowledge that, well... it's Friday. And unpleasant things happen in New Rapture on Fridays.

While we would love to say it's remotely quiet and peaceful, we can't. Helios Suites and the grounds around them are body-free, at least, but... there's a series of booming noises coming from somewhere else in New Rapture, echoing through the empty halls.

Looks like the game is afoot, citizens.

Comments

[bathymetric]

[ The most obvious something is a fire extinguisher, which is not on the ground or on a wall as it should be, but instead hanging from the ceiling in front of the door, a string tied to its valve. ]

[dullshooter]

Now that's a workplace safety violation if I've ever seen one.

[Not the dead body, though. Any blood or the like on this thing?]

[bathymetric]

[ No blood, but some gray hair stuck to it! ]

[dullshooter]

[It's not likely to be anyone else's buut....double check that it matches Undertaker's shade? At a glance, at least.]

[bathymetric]

[ It's a match! ]

[dullshooter]

[Yaaaay! Now about that fire extinguisher.....is there anything around here that points to a Rube Goldberg kind of situation?]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, Hild found a nail with a string connected to the fire extinguisher! It goes from the nail to the ceiling to the extinguisher. ]

[dullshooter]

[oh boy...!! if Hild's checking out ground level, we got anything else up top to look at?]

[bathymetric]

[ Nothing up top, but something a little more in Misfire's wheelhouse.

That being the counter with the ice cream and the behind the counter area? It's a mess consistent with explosion aftermath. Any objects that were on the counter have been blown off of it, and any plastic containers for ice cream are dented and partly melted. Soot covers various cabinets behind the counter, with those close to the far end it completely broken, their doors ripped off. ]

[dullshooter]

[Oh. Jeez. Bit overkill, innit?

Is there...a clear point where the center of the explosion was?]

[bathymetric]

[ Around where everything's waaaay more fucked up...so, like, at the weird out of place microwave at the end of the counter? It's damaged by the explosion but not destroyed, and there's a few other things to note about it. ]

[dullshooter]

[Okay time to give that microwave a good looksie-over...pop it open in case this is all because someone left a fork in there for good measure.]

[bathymetric]

[ Careful, because there's a sotoba jammed in the handle. It looks like someone was in the process of opening it like this instead of touching it for some reason.

Which is a warning, if you touch it there will be consequences. Not life-threatening ones, but. You know. Danger. ]

[dullshooter]

[I regret to inform you he is already touching it.]

[bathymetric]

[ Misfire is electrocuted!

Were he a human, this would be very bad. It's a large enough shock that any flesh and blood person would be in a bad state, but for him? He can walk it off. ]

[dullshooter]

[OH THAT TINGLES.

Despite taking note of the sotoba and the electrocution he's opening that microwave. Show us your dangerous little secrets.]

[bathymetric]

[ Behold, the microwave holds......

Nothing. There's nothing inside it, and despite being around the center of the explosion? It's clear to tell it didn't come from in the microwave.

But, maybe checking behind the counter? ]

[dullshooter]

[There he goes. He's not walking around it btw he's like crawling over the top like a rat.]

[bathymetric]

[ Stop, stop, it's suffered enough.

Behind the counter are two things tucked away to appear inconspicuous. One of them is a bowl, empty but covered in flour stains. ]

[dullshooter]

[Ah yes, the totally inconspicious behind-the-counter bowl of flour that every respectable establishment has. Any fingerprints or marks left with the flour, and any more flour in the nearby vicinity?]

[bathymetric]

[ There are no fingerprints or marks in the flour, unfortunately... if they were, they're gone on account of that fan set up behind the bowl and blowing away. Other than that, there's flour marks like. Around, but that's been established elsewhere. ]

[dullshooter]

[Alrighty. So what's the other thing? -- oh wait was that the fan too.]

[bathymetric]

[ Just that there's a string attached to the on-off switch of the fan! ]

[dullshooter]

[Is he gonna play "tug the string to turn it on and off again several times in a row"? Yes. Where's that string leading by-the-by as he ruins the scene like this?]

[bathymetric]

[ It leads out towards the middle of the room, where Hild's investigating! Spooky. ]