Console W.A.R.S. Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
consolemods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
consolewars2018-02-04 12:51 pm
consolemods) wrote in consolewars2018-02-04 12:51 pm
TRIAL
Well, Niles is dead now, and in a very unpleasant way. The investigation has progressed for some time... but after a certain amount of time, a marker appears on the player's console HUDs directing them to a particular location, much in the same way as it did when directing them to the paddock for Thursday's challenge.
This time, though, it's directing them to the courthouse, which has been locked up until this time... but not now. The doors are wide open, and you might as well go inside. The interior is lacking the audience benches you'd expect, but... there's a large, oppressive emptiness to the space. It almost seems bigger on the inside than the outside... no, it definitely seems much bigger on the inside. And after you walk the long, long walk to the center, you'll find a circle of 23 podiums with your names on them, with... two of them being much, much smaller to account for the, uh, pets.
Those... seem really out of place, by the way. They stand out in stark contrast to the rest of the quaint, old-timey Western town by being more on the technological level of the consoles on your faces, with touch screens and pictures of all of the current players... and the two former players, too, with the icon of Niles' and Makoto's faces having the word DEAD stamped across their faces.
As you stand at your podiums, you do begin to notice some wrongness about the whole thing... like that there might actually be some audience benches behind you, depending on the angle you look at them, but they seem to flicker in and out of your peripheral vision. Ditto with the two holes in the podiums, too-- they're... sometimes there, but not always.
The judge's box looms high over the podiums, towering for the animals but really only a few feet higher. The sheriff stands there as comfortable as he's ever seemed, arms crossed and silent the entire time. There are flickers of something uncanny in him, just like the architecture - the color of an eye, the shape of an arm - but nothing sticks for long enough to confirm.
It isn't until everyone's settled at their podium that he speaks, and any hint of the laconic tone he's taken all week is finally gone to be replaced by one far more formal. He seems in his element as he leans down to address the podiums.
"Welcome to round two! You've all done well to make it this far! The first attack has succeeded, and now Niles lies dead. But for every offense, there must be a defense! Will you find his killer? More of your lives may be at risk of you do not. Share your findings with each other, and come to a conclusion based on the evidence: Who killed Niles?
Now, let's play."
This time, though, it's directing them to the courthouse, which has been locked up until this time... but not now. The doors are wide open, and you might as well go inside. The interior is lacking the audience benches you'd expect, but... there's a large, oppressive emptiness to the space. It almost seems bigger on the inside than the outside... no, it definitely seems much bigger on the inside. And after you walk the long, long walk to the center, you'll find a circle of 23 podiums with your names on them, with... two of them being much, much smaller to account for the, uh, pets.
Those... seem really out of place, by the way. They stand out in stark contrast to the rest of the quaint, old-timey Western town by being more on the technological level of the consoles on your faces, with touch screens and pictures of all of the current players... and the two former players, too, with the icon of Niles' and Makoto's faces having the word DEAD stamped across their faces.
As you stand at your podiums, you do begin to notice some wrongness about the whole thing... like that there might actually be some audience benches behind you, depending on the angle you look at them, but they seem to flicker in and out of your peripheral vision. Ditto with the two holes in the podiums, too-- they're... sometimes there, but not always.
The judge's box looms high over the podiums, towering for the animals but really only a few feet higher. The sheriff stands there as comfortable as he's ever seemed, arms crossed and silent the entire time. There are flickers of something uncanny in him, just like the architecture - the color of an eye, the shape of an arm - but nothing sticks for long enough to confirm.
It isn't until everyone's settled at their podium that he speaks, and any hint of the laconic tone he's taken all week is finally gone to be replaced by one far more formal. He seems in his element as he leans down to address the podiums.
"Welcome to round two! You've all done well to make it this far! The first attack has succeeded, and now Niles lies dead. But for every offense, there must be a defense! Will you find his killer? More of your lives may be at risk of you do not. Share your findings with each other, and come to a conclusion based on the evidence: Who killed Niles?
Now, let's play."
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Oh yeah!! Yeah, we should check that!
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and Kokoro and Fluffy thought she was horrible with corpses, ok]
He's enjoying this...
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[Zulf has a lot of thoughts on that, but he's trying to keep them to himself as he turns back to her with the rope in hand.]
Knife, please. I want to test out another idea.
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[Let's assume that knife is in a position where it can be compared visually since it's near Kokoro?]
Mods
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But I guess I can cross that idea off.
So we still don't know what this knife was used for... or why he only had one wrist tied.
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[C'mon, she's smarter than Sailor Moon!]
...he had that eyepatch, right? What if the wrist that was tied up was on the side he couldn't see out of?
MODS
[He doesn't want to, but also he doesn't want to ask Dito to do anything with that corpse ever again. So Zulf will look to see what side the bruise is on. Right for eyepatch, or left for that missing eye?]
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It should be noted, though, that the bruise seems to be much, much worse as it gets closer to the bottom of his palm and thumb, as though it happened from some kind of pulling motion.]
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[ He'll scoff. ]
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[All he does is look at people like Dito for a slightly longer moment before looking back to Soren.]
[Buddy, you tell him]
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If so, we're dealing with a rather sadistic culprit.
[ Pointedly. ]
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Still.... Maybe there was a different reason that the body was found in the paddock instead of the stable. The stable had to be where the murder took place, right?
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Maybe the killer didn't think we'd look there?
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...And why did they put the horse in the saloon?
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...Maybe the person who did this thinks we're stupid.
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Still, there has to be something missing, and the Sheriff has let us know that. So....
[Well. He'll go back to thinking.]
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And it's in the courtroom. The eyepatch?
We never finished checking pockets...or checking if the eyepatch could be hidden elsewhere on someone for most people.......
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[ He folds his arms. ]
As for any other reason -- I have none. There doesn't seem to be much benefit to dragging him to a different place in the same area, unless it had some way with assisting in disfiguring Niles, or the killer was trying to hide something.