Hostile Action Trial

[mockmods]

[As you all finish investigating, an electric chime rings out across the PA system.]

I believe that should be sufficient time for you all to prepare. Assistant, please escort everyone to the trial room.

[Penny emerges from the Security office again, head down, and slowly collects everyone; she leads you all to the east side of the common room, to the short hallway between dorms B1 and A2, that’s dead ended through your entire time here. As your group approaches, the wall seamlessly slides up to reveal a hidden doorway. Passing through leads to another short hallway and a small, round room, just big enough to hold all of you. Penny passes her ID over a small pad near the doorway, and it blinks green before the room lurches slightly beneath you; an elevator going down.]

[A short trip down leads you to a larger chamber, with a series of twenty-two podiums set up in a ring; in the center is a column of computer stations with large monitors, behind a set of thick metal beams with occasional faint flashes of energy arcing between them and a constant, low hum.]

Welcome to your first trial, Participants. You will use this time to determine which among your number killed the Legendary Bassist, and send them to justice. Failure to choose the correct culprit will have dire consequences for you all.

[Trial: commence.]

Comments

[clandestineideals]

...There were quite a few things I found in the kitchen.

[ ... ]

First were some random junk pieces - it looked like someone was using the counter to work on something. There was also a wine bottle, but filled about a quarter of blood [ Yeah, that sure is a pause. ] for whatever reason. I also discovered the sink was a pink hue, and I believe it can be from someone trying to wash blood off.

The last item I found were these.

[ Holds up a pack of cigarettes. ]

Someone apparently smoked just one of these, didn't care about the mess it made, and seemed to decide that it didn't matter that the rest were left behind.

[mightdoriya]

[Wow um holy shit] Someone just...left a wine bottle filled with blood in the kitchen? [I mean he...knows at least one person here who needs blood to survive but he's not going to go there immediately, he's more shocked that something like that was just left out in the open for someone to happen onto.]

[clandestineideals]

[ Yeeeeeah... fun times. But also, what the hell? ]

My best guess is that they figured it wouldn't matter if they left something like that behind, but I doubt that's all there is to it.

[mightdoriya]

[Ew] Eugh...well, I did see bloodied footprints leading into the kitchen, so them going there to clean themselves up checks out.

[doppelanger]

Also the knives.

[ Her one contribution! ]

They took them all. I took pictures.

[mightdoriya]

[Okay this has gotten even more complicated all of a sudden.] You're sure they took every knife that was in there? Can I see the pictures you took?

[doppelanger]

Not from the drawers. [ Otherwise she couldn't have gotten that butterknife for the sandwiches! ] But all the...

[ she takes her phone out while she casts about for the word "knifeblock", which she doesn't find, since she doesn't know it ]

... ones for cooking, and cutting meat. All of these were on the counter. Come, see. [ Meant as a warning but stated like a fact: ] There is much blood.

[mightdoriya]

[He will do just that. He's seen so much blood today at least that a bit more isn't going to bother him too much. He understands the gist of what she means though, and sure enough...the knifeblock has been cleaned out of all of its knives.] Those kinds of knives would cause the most damage if you really wanted to hurt someone with them, is probably why. And the fact that so many were taken...if the original blueprints that were found for that machine were being built to the letter, I think those knives were intended to be attached to it. Somehow though, that didn't end up happening.

[doppelanger]

[ Or-- ]

I am thinking that maybe it did.

[mightdoriya]

[That causes Izuku to raise his eyebrows a bit.] You think so? What do you think happened?

[doppelanger]

The knives were bloody on all sides. You see how they are piled. Was there blood on the wheel, too?

[mightdoriya]

[Somehow I completely read over the knives being present still pls forgive my brain lapse] There was. But if the knives were actually used on the victim as part of the machine, wouldn't his wounds be different?

[doppelanger]

This may be. I have never seen knife wheel before.

But it would be very messy, like his neck. Why else get all the knives bloody?

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku brings his hand to his mouth again, thinking.] It sounds like the knives were definitely most likely used as the main murder weapon. It would be a lot of trouble to just bloody up a lot of knives to fake evidence, but...there was also a wine bottle full of blood, so.

[doppelanger]

Especially if they were bleeding, too.

The bottle is curious. [ She pauses, considering. ] Why collect the blood and not use it?

[mightdoriya]

[...Might as well just nip this in the bud now, since it's bound to come up, he figures.] Beyond just doing it for the purpose of faking evidence in some way...the fact that it was put into a bottle makes me wonder... Sonia-san, you don't happen to know anything about that bottle of blood that was found, do you? I'm not accusing you of anything, I just want to clarify since...you would have had a practical reason to put it in a bottle like that.

[aragona]

It looked like the killer was putting in the entra effort to get it all off, but they didn't succeed. [A shrug.] They could have tried out different knives to see which ones worked the best.

[doppelanger]

Stupid. [ It's not directed at Sonia, just a comment! ] A knife for good steak is not a knife for bone.

[ Although, now that she's looking at her... ]

He was dead already. So, why exert?

[aragona]

Not all of us know that.

We should be here all day explaining why killers do things a certain way.

[doppelanger]

Mm.

How does a vampire killer do things? I would like to know how that is done.