Fourth Trial

[bathymetric]

[ After the evidence (and what a large batch of evidence it is, this time) has been gathered up, after actually patiently waiting a longer time than usual to make sure everything's been grabbed, the speakers over New Rapture crackle to life. ]

Time's up, everyone. You know where to go.

[ The lower number of bathyspheres, as you descend, is starting to become really notable, isn't it? The descent is the same as ever, lower and lower into the sea. The bioluminescence of those slugs on the ocean floor is almost brighter today, somehow, and some of them have even crawled up the cliff face around you as you pass them.

The dome approaches, slowly as ever, gleaming red in the darkness. The bathyspheres land in a row, doors opening one by one to reveal the familiar sight of the trial room, three more podiums now darkened. ]

Take your places, ladies and gentlemen. You've got a doozy of a situation to discuss. Ass Man and Silver Fox are dead. You know what happens if you can't figure out whodunnit.

[ Welcome to your fourth trial. ]

Comments

[onemillion]

[Though Rossiu usually manages to keep his composure through these trials, he looks a little shaken today. He's doing his best to pull himself together and get through his evidence though, so here we go!!]

I investigated the area near the entrance of the dark ride, where... Dandy was found. The water was drained, something that was operated by a control panel near the entrance. The lights were turned on as well, also from the same control panel. It seemed simple enough to use and showed no signs of anything noteworthy. [Like say, being smashed.]

I also found one of the fake rocks was moved. It seemed to have been purposefully moved rather than accidentally disturbed, because I found a knife underneath it.

[And here it is! If anyone wants to take a closer look at it, feel free to assume he passes it around.]

It's one of the knives from the vending machine. It's bent and damaged. It looks as if it might have come into contact with something.

[The exact mod wording on that is here, so anyone else can feel free to pick up on this! Rossiu doesn't know enough about knives or stabbing to get this.]

cw blood, implications of achilles tendon harm, gore maybe?

[fuckingguy]

Before we begin, did Dandy ever disclose what precisely he was to any of you guys? Because he was definitely not human, but outside that... no idea what was going on there.

[ But okay, since this is an evidence toplevel, he's going to continue! ]

Also, he had a quite impressive amount of blood. I did not investigate the body, but it was all over the dark ride. Going forward from where he was, there was this big bloody smear on the left wall. About this high [ he's indicating it relative to himself ], might have been a hand? And that shit just kept going almost to the exit. Then, like, midway down the track, there was a splatter of it that looked like... eh. You know how when you get an artery, and then it's like...

[ oh Jesus Christ he's miming an arterial spurt and making his own sound effects]

But not as bad as it could be, you know, considering. Was right next to a message someone carved into the concrete. It said "we are still here", but all in capitals, right under where the water would be.

Then, you know the little church scene in there, at the center of the ride? It looks like Dandy knocked one of the cutouts over, with his face, and right to that there was another big pool of blood. More spurting, quite disgusting, really. Then, even further along, he spilt those prayer beads he was wearing all over the ground. A little bloody, but nothing too crazy. And the fucking smear just kept going almost to the exit.

Oh! Also there was a knife just lying around. [ AND HE JUST PULLS IT OUT ] As you can see, it is clean, so, not sure how that connects.

... I think that is everything?

[ And you all can connect the dots from here, because he can't connect shit! ]

[honeyedtea]

[ As a surprise to exactly no one, Mielle is stood at Mafuyu's podium - but rather than by her side, she's stood slightly in front of her, body angled as if to shield Mafuyu from the others. ]

Would anyone mind explaining what actually happened? All we know is that we were disturbed by a great deal of noise and Zinda and the others went tearing off towards it.

[hotpaprika]

[He doesn't meet Mielle's face, and he looks like he's in shock..]

The murderer is a pure monster...

[inaclearing]

[Brett shows up pretty much reeking of smoke, wearing a rather different outfit than usual. It probably has no relation to anything.

He takes a deep breath, in and out. He decided, last week, that he was going to hold it together from then on. Just push through the pain until it's over - that's the best he can do right now. So he'll keep on doing it. His tone is steady and absent, like someone narrating something that isn't quite real, and certainly not happening to them.]

Someone burned some clothes in the storage room. They doused them in gasoline first, so they were completely destroyed. No telling what they were or what they looked like - there was just some fiber remnants left. There was also this bag, and a matchbox.

[He'll put them both on the podium. The backpack is a generic one from the department store, slightly burnt and clearly empty, and the matchbook is...well, just a matchbook.]

[dullshooter]

Haven’t we done this conversation already?

[The ‘who’s the real monster?’ rodeo.]

[sastruga]

We have it every week.

[fuckingguy]

For fuck's sake...

[onemillion]

Someone set off fireworks in the middle of the amusement park - that was the noise we all heard. I didn't investigate that so I'm not sure how it connects, but the dark ride was where Dandy was found. I'm not sure what happened to the Undertaker.

ice cream parlor, the parlorening

[daimakaicho]

[ y’all please use the diagram and key, there’s a lot going on here.

also here’s the link to her investigation, if you want to look back yourself. ]

Right.

[ Once she gets to her spot, Hild sighs. There’s a lot to get through. ]

Floyd and I managed to break our way into the ice cream parlor, where the door was jammed with a door under the handle. The chair itself broke after we got through, but one of the legs had some blood on it.

The door also had some kind of trap set up, with a tripwire made of rope going across it that set off when the door opened. This one led to the fire extinguisher that was hanging from the ceiling.

There were also frayed wires running under the tables. Not connected to anything, but clearly put there on purpose with open wires. Talk about a fire hazard.

Someone seems to be a fan of tripwires, because there was a second one running across part of the parlor, with this one involving the fan.

I also found a lighter [ she pulls it out (don’t ask from where), it’s pretty melted to hell ] and a knife block with blood on it.

The strangest part of the scene was someone was messing with the airflow in the parlor. When we came in it was rather stale and admittedly hard to breathe, but it cleared up well enough with the door open. Someone had managed to attach pillows to all the air ducts in effort to stifle the air. Strange, isn’t it?

[hotpaprika]

The murderer gored Dandy, Misfire! His chest cavity was exposed!

cw: gore and torture

[specialyellthing]

[And if Jonathan’s shock isn’t enough to clue Mielle in? Zinda’s uncharacteristic steeliness should.]

Someone tied Dandy up an’ cut his heart out. Literally. Aiba’s gonna give all the details in a bit, I’m sure. Don’t know what happened with the other guy.

[dullshooter]

…Okay, bit excessive, but ‘monster’s a strong word.

[buriedstar]

Fourth time's the charm?

[ He does not at all sound serious. ]

[sastruga]

His...

[...Mafuyu doesn't pay Jonathan too much mind. It's nothing personal, just, he's in a state every week.

But Zinda, though...]

...We don't exactly get extra points for brutality.

[So. What the fuck.]

[dullshooter]

Nah, you don’t wanna miss out how we’re gonna do it the fifth time.

Dandy's Body Report -- Content Warnings: Torture, Gore, Achilles Tendon Content, Fingers Content

[pairtner]

I bring the results of a general examination of Dandy's body. Given we all aren't investigators used to this amount of gore, I will attempt to convey it in the least upsetting manner possible -- to some extent. It is ludicrously upsetting.

[Aiba displays the usual blue figure she uses for corpse markings, but instead of showing the injuries like usual she highlights each area]

The cause of death was a removal of the heart. Dandy's ribcage was breached forcefully, without any sawing to the bones. [Given she named this the cause of death...yeah, this definitely was done while he was still alive]

There are also a number of wounds and injuries that were done not with the purpose of killing him, but to either restrain him or... [Torture him] The tendons on the lower parts of the legs, known as the Achilles tendon, were both cut with the same weapon. However this did not happen where the body was found, as there was not enough blood under these injuries.

In addition, his right hand has suffered extensive damage. The fingers of this hand are broken, result of someone repeatedly stomping on them. There's also a gash on the palm, going deep enough it breaches the other side of the hand.

Finally, his chest and limbs show signs of having been slashed with a bladed weapon. It's safe to say all these injuries were made with the purpose of inflicting pain no him.

[...uf, this was rough to say. Aiba's projection closes her eyes and shakes her head]

It's unspeakably awful.

[dullshooter]

And strangely enough, it never gets us anywhere…

[specialyellthing]

… Naw. He might not be too far off with this one.

[pairtner]

I must agree with them this time.

[Dandy didn't deserve any of this!]

[hotpaprika]

[He nods, choking back a sob. He knows he's dramatic but he cannot think of a single way that the murderer could ever be justified for this sort of crimes.]

[hotpaprika]

[The image of Dandy's body is burned into Jonthan's brain, perhaps forever. And yet hearing Aiba talk about the damage done makes him sob into his hands again. They were living with a monster like this for over a month. They did this to someone who only wanted to help.]

[buriedstar]

In that case, I can't wait~.

[dullshooter]

…Have we considered that maybe they did all of this because they’re inexplicably bad at killing anyone?

[sastruga]

Mm. Because then people argue about it and people start to act superior and the whole time we don't talk about anything useful and before you know it an hour's passed.