FIFTH INVESTIGATION

[bathymetric]

Morning dawns on Friday with the same sense of horribly mundane not-quite-dread it must by now, everything normal as you wake to leave your rooms and yet... well, the weeks haven't been kind to this usual favorite of days, have they? It's been over a month now since your last normal Friday.

But maybe this one will be different. Maybe you'll all find that despite everything, you've all finally made it to the end of one of The Professor's motives. You've outlasted him, and can see what happens when you all do so.

Or maybe not. Only one way to find out.

Comments

FITNESS ROOM

[bathymetric]

[ Sometimes you pump the iron, sometimes the iron pumps you. That's life, baby. ]

[archboxer]

[She's here and not about to fight Nira to look over the body so... Just how messed up is this room?]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, there's a few things that are definitely Of Note. You wanna start closer to the body or look around the rest of the room? ]

[archboxer]

[Let's take a look around the room, first.]

[bathymetric]

[ Alright! So the first thing that might draw her attention is a blue toy lightsaber strapped to a pillar across from the body. It's turned on. ]

[archboxer]

[...Rhea has no idea what to make of that but you know what always is a good thing to do?

Go and poke it.]

[bathymetric]

[ It's strapped tight to the wall! With tape, a perfectly normal substance for doing this perfectly normal thing. ]

[archboxer]

[She's going to try to undo the tape. Speaking of which, is there anything else attached to it? Wires? Ropes? Pieces of hair?]

[bathymetric]

[ Nope! And the tape comes off just fine, this is all there really is for this clue. A good idea to bring the stuff, though. ]

[archboxer]

[She'll just hold onto it gingerly for the moment.

Any other things around the gym that aren't near the body?]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, there's a screwdriver over there behind one of the machines! If she picks it up, it shows signs of recent use, too. ]

[archboxer]

[She'll pick that up and under the arm it goes. She'll show Zerinda and Mira later for cataloging purposes.

Anything else or can the pope bless this mess?]

[ladygeryon]

[Don't worry, now that investigation's officially started up she's going to leave the bodytouchers to their work and go touch a shattered rock.]

[bogwife]

["Starlight".

Zerinda's heart clenches when she hears that title in particular announced. Rose, oh no. But this time she's stamping down her grief and kneeling next to Brian's body. What is she seeing in the immediate before she starts moving these weights?]

[bathymetric]

[ Luckily for you, Zerinda, the cause of death is at least obvious. with the exception of his hand and a leg, the whole rest of his body has just been crushed by weights. Not a fun way to go. ]

[bogwife]

[Ouch. There's a "live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse" reference to be made here but thankfully Zaza has no point of reference for that.

Is there anything in particular she can take note of with the weight rack? Is it still standing as it should be sans weights or does it look like it was knocked over?]

[bathymetric]

[ Interesting you mention that! The weight rack has toppled over, with all the screws holding all the wights in place seemingly having failed at once, and is hanging by a rope.

You know. Normal gym stuff. ]

[bogwife]

[HM. So there's a good chance he wasn't just doing sit-ups and accidentally pulled a bunch of weights on top of himself.

Okay, she's going to carefully start taking the weights off of him and setting them off to the side. There sure is a crushed zombie under them and it'd proooobably be a lost cause to try and check for signs of rigor mortis like she'd seen Ema doing. Can she see any non-weight related injuries on him? She's also going to be checking on his unsquished arm and leg.]

[bathymetric]

[ No other injuries! But this sure was more than enough on the bodily trauma front, yike.

In the process, though, Zerinda might find there's something in his hand. ]

[bogwife]

[Hello- let's pry open his fingers and see what that is!]

[bathymetric]

[ It's a note written on the fancy vending machine paper! It reads:

We need your help. We can only be here for a short while. Fitness room tonight. ]

[bogwife]

[Oh! Ohhh. This is important. She's going to tuck this away into her skirt pocket with the bandages for later.

Anything else about the body she should take note of?]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, there appears to be a rope going under his leg with one end near the door and the other tied to the weight rack! Might be worth taking a look at that, actually. ]

[bogwife]

[Hell yeah, she is on it. She climbs back to her feet and follows the rope from Brian to the end near the door. It sounds like it's set up to be a trip wire, is that right?]

AREA CLEAR

[bathymetric]