Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

Again, the elevator is waiting for you after the allotted time for investigation is over; it idles almost patiently at each floor, waiting for everyone to be on board before sending all of you up to the courtroom high above. Over a third of your original number is dead. The losses are made all the more apparent by the addition of several greyed-out portraits around the podium circle at the center of the room; Kira, Mercy, Judy, Nick, and Kimbley have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped in black. Meanwhile, the lectern above stands empty. The Wordsmith waits for everyone to find their place in the circle before he speaks; once that much has been done, his voice can be heard easily throughout the room. "Welcome back, Apprentices. The past several days have been troublesome indeed, and I need not point out that your number has dropped significantly. But a matter even more pressing requires your attention at the moment. In accordance with Rule Seven, the guilty seeks to leave the university and rewrite history. If you wish to prevent that, hold them accountable and have them take responsibility for the fate of Incendiary." Nineteen Apprentices remain. However many leave here at the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[neverheardofhim]

You remember what I said last week though, don't you, Goldie? If I thought someone was going to hurt you or any one else I cared about, I wouldn't hesitate.

If I'm right, then things don't look great for me.

[elepe]

[...well, that gets a pause.]

He would have reacted violently if he believed he had nothing more to lose. Would that be a correct assessment, Varric?

[neverheardofhim]

That's right, Lucy. If I'd known about what Kimbley was doing, I would have killed him.

But that's the operative word. I'm not going to kick up a big fuss defending myself just yet -- that's not going to make things better on me, but I'll say it right now. It wasn't me.

I don't know enough about chemicals to make a blast, not here at least. And like I said last week, anyone can speak to how well I've been doing with trying to learn.

[elepe]

...I believe you, until evidence points too far in your direction.

[It's an...attempt? Let's call it that.]

Have we considered that he may have been messing around with the chemicals? He spent most of his time in that lab, unless things have changed.

[oyashiromama]

That may be the case. He... He wrote in German, wasn't that right? [She's asking for clarification here, genuinely.] And Viktor said that's what the notes on the chlorine were written in.

[iaspis]

He did seem curious about what everything was, in the lab. What it did, that sort of thing.

[quadruples]

Not the ones on chlorine, but the other notes aside from the one in the drawer were in German. I haven't seen him write anything in German, but we talked about languages and when he spoke Amestrian it sounded like German to me.

[matchbreaker]

Wait, did it?

[ German... ]

[introspects]

Ah, here.

[ Just gonna walk on over to your podium and hand you the notes! ]

[matchbreaker]

[ Looking these over...

She's only barely conversation in German but- ]

oh yeah, that sure looks like German.

[ But that means... ]

[quadruples]

He said just one word, but it was long and basically describes how likely it is to rain today, because the Germans apparently needed a single word for that. Nieder...something...keit?

[ Niederschlagswahrscheinlichkeit, because the German language doesn't fuck around when it comes to shoving words together. ]

[matchbreaker]

Oh.

[ . . . ]

Then I might have something of his-- [ a beat ] ... Not important, though.

[introspects]

[ (now that we're finally home:) ]

I believe Kimbley-san was definitely the one looking at the chemicals. I don't think that part was someone else's doing.

[foundfate]

And I told you to find a better solution than killing someone!