Take Responsibility.

[trustharder]

And after all has been said and done and all clues have been found, those large steel doors at the end of the hallway open up. The elevator both is and isn't a particularly nice one; it rides smoothly and quickly and it's obviously been kept-up, but there's nothing on the interior walls, lending a claustrophobic feeling to what's already a relatively small space, particularly with all of you in there. (Well. Almost all of you.) No distractions from what just happened, nothing to take your mind off of considering what might, just you and your fellow Survivors in an unadorned steel box. There's no visible panel for buttons, either; looks like it's pre-programmed; at least the ride is a relatively short one, though it's difficult to tell the distance traveled before the door opens again. You would be forgiven for your initial thought being that it opens into a void. It isn't complete darkness, but it's enough of a visual shift from the elevator that it probably takes your eyes some time to adjust; instead of the usual concrete and steel, the walls are a dark, heavy black, making the room look far smaller than it is. There aren't any corners to it, either; the room is tightly circular, complimenting the setup in the center of it. In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, twenty-seven in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be, just a massive black pit in the center - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium. Affixed to the podium itself is a glass touchscreen panel; it's dark for now, but it'll probably be relevant later. At least the glass is shatterproof, in case things get heated. In general, though, all of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Zagi. The podium that should bear Adaptable's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Zagi's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale. It's hard to tell where the Kingmaker's voice comes from, when it does; it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, like it's being piped in from someplace you can't see. But he's very definitely audible when he does speak. "Adaptable has been taken from you. Looks like the guilty among you is attempting to end the exercise by carrying out Rule Seven. It's up to you whether they're held responsible for their actions or not."

Comments

[cherryblooded]

[Cherryblod is silent throughout the elevator trip, and silent as he takes his position behind his podium. He's chosen to wear his suit today - the jumpsuit is too gaudy and anything else would be disrespectful. It has the effect of making him feel like he's attending a funeral, more than a trial.]

About all I found out from investigating was that the crime was fairly recent when we found him - the blood trail was still wet.

[prismbloom]

[ She's quiet, too, until Cherryblod speaks up. ]

Pearl, Shirazu, Black, and I investigated the library. The only thing we really found was a lot of duct tape.

[goodforsomething]

Duct tape? What, like they tied him up first?

[prismbloom]

That's the strangest thing: The duct tape was completely clean.

[goingdigital]

Where was the duct tap exactly? Like on the doors?

[prismbloom]

No, not on the doors. It was on the walls, floors, and chairs. There were also books attached to the wall with duct tape. As far as I could tell, there was no pattern in what books were taped up.

[goodforsomething]

Clean? So what, it was just sittin' in the library?

[That's weird, but doesn't immediately ping him as murder-related.]

[prismbloom]

Yes, exactly. [ ... ] It wasn't hiding anything, from what I could see.

[amygdalae]

Speedwagon, Detectives Mouri and Lynne and I took care of the dining hall. [...as well as Zagi's dead body...]

First, let us go through respectively on what we've managed to find.

[wokeupdead]

[Lynne will pop up here.]

I'll leave the technical description up to Bruce but it's pretty obvious that there was a big fight in the dining room. Zagi had been cut multiple times by what looked like claw marks and his neck was... slit.

[She falters a bit on the end because it's so horrible to think about.]

[happysweets]

That lines up with the claw marks in the chair! Does that mean Zagi was trying to defend himself with it, maybe?

[amygdalae]

It's a possibility.

[They need to have whatever they can get first. Putting the pieces together will come later.]

As Detective Lynne mentioned, there were numerous claw marks on his body, but none of them were deep or big enough to be fatal.

So I think its safe to assume that it was the wound on his neck that dealt the killing blow.

[garudynamic]

Makes sense- Zagi told pretty much everyone that he could fight. Sure as hell doesn't seem like a smart target.

[notjustawriter]

I found a knife in the dining hall, away from.... away from the body.

It was probably the murder weapon. It was one of the kitchen knives.

[sleepingkogoro]

Indeed. That knife is undoubtedly the murder weapon. The culprit caught Zagi-san and without hesitation killed him.

What I'm not sure yet is who would be able to do such thing. Zagi-san was a good fighter, that's what he said several times. Not anyone could have overpowered him.

[ratingspoint]

Well, it sounds like whoever did wasn't human, so that probably helped them out!

[...Helpful, Mettaton.]

[notjustawriter]

Didn't Lynne and Bruce say there were scratches on his body?

It sounds like there was a fight to me.

[uro_cyon]

Don't underestimate the element of surprise either.

[happysweets]

Misa-Misa ran back to her room after we found the body, but...in the hallway along the way, she found a bloody chair? It was all dented and mangled, like it hit something hard! And in the metal, there were biiig scratch marks! Like they came from claws!

[prismbloom]

It's obvious that whoever did this was not human--or they used some sort of tool obtained, most likely, from the vending machine.

[cherryblooded]

Not human, hm...

[Before anyone asks, Cherryblod shows his hands. They're completely ordinary, and his nails are short.]

It's true that shrimp do have claws in their animal form, but I don't have one of those - and if I did, I doubt I'd be able to do much harm to Zagi while I couldn't breathe.

Did you notice any kind of pattern to the scratches?

[prismbloom]

[ She didn't suspect you for a moment, Shrimpdad. ]

The scratches came in sets. Like Misa said, they appear to have come from claws.

[notjustawriter]

The vending machine gives out weapons, so it's possible.

[prismbloom]

Can everyone confirm what they've received from the vending machine?

I've received a ukelele, a black notebook, a mobile phone, potpourri, an arrow, some sort of training sword, a bouquet of cherry blossoms, my Wayfinder, a tuning fork, salt, a fur muffler, a straitjacket, a poster of some sort of celebrity, a glass replica of a diamond, and a thermometer.

[wokeupdead]

I know people got things like knives and sword but was there anything that could have made scratches like that?

[Not like anyone would share if they got something like that.]