Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The ride up to the courtroom occurs, as before, after an allotted period of time for investigation; the elevator waits patiently for you at each floor - third, second, first - before sending you upwards and on your way to the courtroom high above. As always, the trip is a smooth one; granted, after everything that the morning had been, any small comfort that fact may bring is likely not helping much. There are three less of you this time around, a fact reflected in the podium circle standing in the middle of the room; Alani, Milla and Chiyuki have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped in black and their portraits in greyscale keeping a watchful eye over the rest of the trial circle. There's still no one present in the lectern above; however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard throughout the room. "I can see that matters are beginning to seem dire for you, Apprentices. I am sure that you all cared for Sympathetic in some measure—all except the guilty party. And now it falls to you once again to determine who that is. For your own sake as well as Sympathetic's, hold her killer accountable and have them take responsibility for their actions." Twenty-four Apprentices remain. We'll see how many remain at the end of the day.

Comments

[feistytrader]

There was a pretty strong chemical smell in the room. The whole place was a mess, and one of the pool tables took a pretty hard hit.

But there was also this- [He holds up a broken cuestick-] and some broken... Pool balls.

[He's pretty sure that's not what they're called.]

None of them looked like they were part of the explosion.

[modernmedicine]

[She nods.]

The chemical smell was rather strong. I think that perhaps the chemical scent was from the explosion itself.

When you say the billiard balls weren't part of the explosion, what do you mean?

[feistytrader]

They were cracked and broken on the floor, but they weren't burnt or anything.

[plentyfriendly]

A chemical scent? Any chance it was sodium azide? The container of it in the chemistry lab was completely empty.

[modernmedicine]

Now that I think about it, the scent was rather pungent. Sodium azide would make sense.

[tsugomori]

Unfortunately I don't know much about such a thing. Is there anything else important to know about a chemical like that or just in general that you might know?

[ Because what are chemicals. ]

[modernmedicine]

It's used in explosive making.

[plentyfriendly]

Is there any chance someone would know how to synthesize metallic sodium from it?

[That metal is volatile, to put it lightly, and there was an explosion...]

[modernmedicine]

I think the question is really whether there's more than one person who would know how to synthesize metallic sodium. The profiles clearly indicate that Mr. Kimbley has both knowledge of chemicals and a like of fireworks.

[alchemicals]

...Sodium azide, huh.

[That's interesting, from the sound of it.]

[feistytrader]

...Could you tell us what you know about it?

[Please educate the people who have never taken a chemistry class-]

[alchemicals]

Sure thing.

[plentyfriendly]

It's an ionic compound that's not dissimilar to table salt. It just has azide ions in it instead of chloride.

[The applications thereof are beyond her though.]

[alchemicals]

Oh, trust me. I know what it is.

Chemical weaponry is my specialty, after all.

[tsugomori]

A broken cuestick? That is quite odd.

[ ... ]

I suppose it'd be difficult if she had been hit with it at this point, hm?

[ Or someone else, for that matter... ]

[avoidcomplications]

She and her killer may have fought, possibly. If it wasn't broken by the explosion, that seems the logical next step.

[tsugomori]

[ He'll nod. ]

That sounds about right. Then, the explosion would have naturally had to have come after.

[avoidcomplications]

Of course. I find that a bit excessive, to say nothing of the mess...Is it possible the killer wanted to cover up or destroy evidence?

[tsugomori]

[ ... ]

Well, there was a huge explosion and all, so it's possible. Although, I'm not sure what evidence they would try to hide or destroy.

[introspects]

It's...possible they did fight, actually; I found some of Chiyuki-san's shards in the game room, so that might be a sign of a struggle that may have happened before the explosion...

[avoidcomplications]

Ah, that's right--I did happen to see some paint flakes on the floor in there as well. They could have had an altercation in there first, followed by Chiyuki fleeing to the pool hall.

[introspects]

Paint flakes...

[ ... ] So... Maybe the damaged pool stick was used by Chiyuki-san out of self-defense; caused the bruising; and the killer used the cold pack to ice it down?

[oyashiromama]

But... That explosion, it- it had to have been planned. Could the culprit have meant to use it in the game room, and...Chiyuki delayed it?

[introspects]

That's true... Maybe the culprit could have left the shards and the paint there after the explosion happened instead.

[tsugomori]

[ ... ]

That's a little odd.

[ His eyebrows furrow, but he'll accept the explanation for now. He probably is just a little slow at following. ]