Third Trial

[thecastle]

THIRD TRIAL

Saturday, Week 3

UNCOVER THE GUILTY PARTY


No one can resist the tug that urges them forward and into the Great Hall. There's no point in lingering within the safe confines of your bed or loitering in the castle halls. Neither will shield you from these tedious trials nor will they keep you from witnessing the ghastly scenes that follow. Most of you have reluctantly accepted this as your reality. Right now, it probably feels like there's no stopping the course you're on. All you can do is hold on tight and wait for Sunday to come. If you can just get through this trial, surely next week won't end in disappointment and tragedy.

It's only when all twenty-two of you are present that the doors in the Great Hall fly open, allowing everyone to enter into the trial room. The only surprise here it is if anyone's still shocked by the display.

As soon as you enter, it's easy to see that the only difference from last week is there are less of you to fill the seats around the table. Likely because of how spacious the room is, with so many of your number missing it's starting to feel a little lonely. With a quick glance, you can see the profiles still lining the walls. Their presence serves as a grim reminder of those whose lives have been lost, just in case the absence of their voices wasn't enough.

When everyone settles into their respective seats, The Sage's cold voice seeps in through their pendants.

"It is time, my warriors, to meet the challenge head on. Thus far, your quick wit and perseverance have prevented these trials from meeting an unrighteous end. As you come upon your third tribunal, I can only ponder if this trend will continue.

May you be blessed with only the best of fortune. You will need it."

As soon as the Sage finishes speaking, five images flicker into sight as if brought to life by a projector. Seeing how there's no such device present, it may not be a stretch to consider magic is at work here.

Soldier on, Warriors.

22 REMAIN

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locations | profiles | voting

Comments

[maddogs]

Then put the pieces of physical evidence together for us.

[pseudoregelia]

And that part I'm going to leave to people who are better at analyzing evidence!

[............HIYONO.]

[maddogs]

[ hiyono omg

anyways he pulls a "are you fucking kidding me" look and then refuses to answer ]

[godinsolitude]

[Hiyono.....

SIIIIIGH. There's his cue.]

Then let's consider the evidence: The method of murder does point to Georik, but was he close enough to Natalia for this scenario we're working with to make sense?

[breakingthrough]

There's no evidence that says they planned to meet. It's very possible he was looking for someone and she simply happened to be out.

[But... again. Just a possibility. Nothing concrete. Ugh. She hates trials, she feels bad for humans who have to do this constantly.]

[godinsolitude]

... She's dressed so nicely, though.

When someone is planning to die, they tend to take extra care with their appearance. I suppose it makes sense if she went out last night looking for someone to murder her without knowing who, though.

[breakingthrough]

Perhaps it had some sentimental meaning to her? I'm not sure. I didn't know anything about the dress. It's possible.

[Only her cooking and bad choice in men.]

[maddogs]

Natalia liked pretty much everyone, right? Not only that but Georik had a reason, so Natalia could've singled him out ta help him with his sister.

[godinsolitude]

That would make sense. I believe it was pre-planned at least on her part, or else she wouldn't have been dressed so nicely last night.

[maddogs]

Right. Georik is a gentleman, he dresses nice too. And, besides, if she's goin' ta see her beloved, maybe she was really dressin' up for him.

[pseudoregelia]

[LOOK WE ALL KNOW SHE IS AMAZING AND TALENTED AND BEAUTIFUL BUT THERE'S A REASON SHE KEEPS AYUMU AROUND OTHER THAN THE HOUSEWIFERY.]

[breakingthrough]

[Claps quietly in the distance...]

[godinsolitude]

[What is his life.....]

[browbeater]

[this is what he's tracking, and he's just going to say it.]

There's no evidence that the killer needed to have an intimate knowledge of the mandrake. If it's as highly toxic as Georik says, then having her eat that and avoid any stabbing at all would have been enough. It would have been a hell of a lot less messy, at least. [unless, of course, there are side effects Mako doesn't know about, but he can't point them out because he doesn't know about them]

Georik can't be the only one among the suspects to know about the mandrake's toxicity. Edna told me that I shouldn't eat it when I asked her about it, for instance. Georik is the only one who bothered to speak up, though.

The only other thing that's throwing me off is that the body was dragged. Georik is much taller than me, and I would find it a hassle to drag Natalia just to frame someone else. It's easier and cleaner to just carry the body and wrap her up, before dropping her at the riverside.

[a pause.]

However, our biggest piece of evidence is the mandrake, and Georik is the only one who can't provide some kind of alibi. He's also definitely strong enough to get her to the river, regardless of if he dragged her or not.

[maddogs]

So our options are "probably Georik" and "probably not Georik"?

[browbeater]

Look, I've had my alibi questioned.

Maybe we should question others' alibis, too. I've already pointed out that at least one other person knows the mandrake was poisonous. And if we assume an intimate knowledge isn't necessary, that's a reasonable doubt, isn't it?

[look he's on the probably Georik, but there's enough that seems off that he's not ready to vote]

[maddogs]

Sounds like a good plan ta question people again.

[fedorascout]

Did we already pinpoint what exactly was burned in Fire-chan?

[gyakusatsu]

I'm guessing it was the tarp, considering Rhoda says it smelt of plastic. The source of the lemon smell... I'm less certain of.

[hoodini]

That's what I'm thinking. It's true it is a little weird. But it's not impossible if the fire was hot enough.

[ And magic fire so he's down with weird explanations. ]

[fedorascout]

Well, what's for sure is that it isn't a lemon. If it was, nobody would have found that squeezed lemon in the trash.

[Kizakura rests his face on his hand]

So how about we try to solve that little mystery, alright? Why would a tarp or whatever was burned smell like lemons? We can also be sure it wasn't the tarp itself. If it was, then the body would smell like lemon too, wouldn't it?

[browbeater]

The body was in the water. It's possible the smell washed off.

[gyakusatsu]

That's...certainly plausible. Perhaps the culprit thought there was some meaningful symbolism in the lemons... to parallel her death with that of Asch's?

[She's pretty uncertain about that one though.]

[aumygoddess]

Isn't it possible it's for the same reason as before? Someone tried to clean the tarp off with lemon juice? But perhaps it did not work, so it was disposed of in the fire afterwards.

[gyakusatsu]

it's a plastic tarp. In theory, they should have been able to just wash the blood off in the river, if necessary, no?