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

cw: suicide

[draconite]

... I already dislike it enough when you're right about things, but especially so in this case.

[ Sigh. ]

It's... not possible for him to have ended up behind the wall himself, though, is it? And that hardly explains the doppelganger situation or why none of us noticed the smell.

[pegasinister]

There has to be a second person involved. Perhaps someone stumbled upon him and took advantage.... but the note in his handwriting suggests he had an accomplice from the start.

[spitessier]

There's also the possibility of having created an illusion, like Jasper did weeks ago. It could have been done to hide Bruno's absence by creating a false Bruno, or even to hide his killer's absence if the culprit currently was impersonating him.

[By creating an illusion of the killer being with everyone else, he means]

[draconite]

... is anyone here even capable of pulling off something on that scale for this long?

[ She's skeptical. ]

[encelevenemus]

Physically, or emotionally?

[draconite]

... excellent question. Let's start with physically.

[encelevenemus]

I should see no reason it would not be physically--magically, rather--possible. I haven't been in my own true form for weeks, and though none of us have the exact same magic between worlds, I would not discount that it is likely.

[reresurrected]

Unless it was a corporeal illusion, it would only have been a matter of time before someone realized what was going on.

When I was in the temporary illusionary body Nuadha-sama created for me back at home, I couldn't physically interact with anything. My hand would go straight through any object I tried to touch.