fifth trial

[arsholes]

[With the last piece of evidence collected, Heisenberg's voice abruptly comes from everywhere and nowhere once again.]

Ready when you are. Come on up, Apprentices. You know the drill by now.

[Time to get in your weekly cardio climbing all these goddamn stairs again. Per usual, the ascension takes several minutes, with one final door remaining locked than that first time. The shimmer of purple shield magic remains, blocking the apprentices from accessing it but they'll know soon enough if they make it through this trial.

Finally they reach the courtroom door. It's a bit singed and a little splattered with dried blood. You'd think the tower would have eagerly drunk it up...but perhaps someone left it as a message. The door swings open to reveal a small set of steps, leading up to an imposing round chamber with a tapered roof. Twenty podiums stand in a circle in the center, lit brightly from below. Each podium is made of dark metal with a colored crystal matching the individual dorms enclosed on a thick glass dome on top of it. As always, greyed out portraits of the deceased have been added- Olive and Bruno. The courtroom looks completely unharmed from Hubert's attempt on Wednesday.

Heisenberg once again is up on his scaffold. He pulls a gas mask off of his head and runs a hand through his hair, before settling his hat back in its usual place.]

Hope you've brought your best. And all the evidence. You know how this goes by now. Either one person leaves here, or ten of you get the reward of going back down to the Institute.

Better get started.

Comments

Autopsy Results

[thealchemist]

[Once again, as the Apprentices walk in and take their places at their podiums, the top of their podium lights up with the autopsy report.]

AUTOPSY RESULTS

VICTIM: Bruno Madrigal

CAUSE OF DEATH: A stab wound to the heart

TIME OF DEATH: Between 48 and 72 hours ago

[twibeast]

[ ...okay he didn't actually investigate the body but he did see it and ummmm

man good thing he can actually read this stuff now ]

W-Wait, that time of death can't be right can it?

[sunshade]

He certainly looked as though he'd been dead for much longer than three days. Bodies don't start to mummify in three days.

[twibeast]

And not only that but he was with us the night before we found him! And also helped to heal Hubert! Even if the decay was sped up by some kind of magic then how do we explain that?!

[ dogbrain hurts ]

[rikonstructed]

The simplest explanation would be that the Bruno we saw for the last several days wasn't the one we found in the walls.

[For relative values of "simple."]

[reresurrected]

[He hates that he knows exactly what you are thinking right now.]

That is certainly a possibility...

[sunshade]

That cloak that was advertised in the store--someone bought it, did they not? The one that allows one to duplicate another person's appearance.

mods

[pegasinister]

Heisenberg, I have a question. What causes the activation of a trial? If it was not called when you realized there was a body what is required instead? Do WE have to discover it?

[thealchemist]

I thought that was obvious.

Usually I wait until about three of you, outside of the killer themselves, find it before I make the announcement.

[pegasinister]

That is what I suspected.

And if there is no trial, the killer can not take advantage of the motive or rule 4, correct?

[cuttingremark]

Unless they didn't want there to be a trial.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

But why would somebody kill without one? Like Hubert-san said, that's the only way a motive or escape would happen, right?

[cuttingremark]

If it was a mercy killing to spare Bruno more pain rather than motivated, it would make sense.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

So maybe...

[pegasinister]

That is what I suspect- that the death may have been an accident or a mercy killing and they did not want to risk their own death or to send the rest of us to our deaths.

But then we must ask why did they stop using the drying agent? If they knew decomposition well enough to know they needed it they must also know it would need longer before Bruno's corpse was drying enough to not be putrid.

[encelevenemus]

Is it possible they ran out of it?

[rikonstructed]

...Or were they prevented from replacing it? If they expected to be able to, but the seance made access to the chapel difficult...

[reresurrected]

... that's right. The preparations did take a considerable amount of time.

[pegasinister]

It's possible. They may have had access afterwards but by then it may have been too late.

mods

[pegasinister]

Possibly... hm.

[was the drying agent something that could have been found in the potion room or made with what they have in there?]

[arsholes]

[The drying agent is a complex potion, but it's entirely doable with the ingredience in the potions room.

Fun fact: it's also food-safe!]

[pegasinister]

[...calcium chloride?]

[spitessier]

Perhaps they couldn't have access to the body anymore.

[Can't continue using the drying agent if you can't reach the body]

[thealchemist]

That's about it. There's no clause saying you can win by default if the body never gets found.

[pegasinister]

The same reason you can not win by mass murder.

[He considered it week 1, honestly]