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

[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?]

[bathymetric]

[ It very well could be! There's a bracket screwed into the doorframe over here. ]

[bogwife]

[Interesting, interesting. Will she find anything if she has a closer look at that?]

[bathymetric]

[ No, but she might note there's another bracket in the ceiling from which the rope is hung!

And that, at last, is all the Big Evidence in the room. Well done! ]