THE TRIAL INVESTIGATION.

[thegardeners]

[On Friday morning, for any of the early birds, they may find a note lying outside their door:

I think someone’s after me, if someone breaks into my room I’ll run to the lake! Please help look after me! ~ The cutest in the world, Cagliostro

There’s a smiley face at the end, along with tiny hearts. (You can choose to have your character to run into it if you wish-- some were purposefully delivered, and some were blown by the wind. The general idea is they can run into one easily, around the Pagoda.)

However, if you look at Floor 17...

Well. For now, everything seems peaceful. What do you want to do today?

Investigate?]

Comments

[thegardeners]

[Sorry, Nira.

As she runs closer, she'll find it clearer and clearer-- it's Cagliostro, lying face-up on the bridge. Though she may seem to be only sleeping from a distance away, when Nira gets close enough, it's obvious-- from the way her mouth is left ajar, an expression of pure shock frozen on her face, eyes staring up at the sun, unblinking--

Cagliostro is dead.]

[ladyporthos]

[Nira hisses, half from anger and half from sorrow. It seems like just yesterday the two of them were talking by this lake, learning about the various things that lived in it.]

Cagliostro-who would do this? [She seemed so cheerful and harmless.] And how? [She bends down to get a closer look. Is there any blood?]

[thegardeners]

[From her forehead, there seems to be a gigantic bruise, but there is no blood on her face itself. However, her hair is matted with splatters of blood and... guck. If Nira so much as lifts Cagliostro's head a little, she'll see why-- there is a very severe head wound on the back of her skull.

Anything else she wants to check out?]

[ladyporthos]

Did she...slip and fall? [No, that doesn't make sense for the forehead bruise. Someone might have hit her and knocked her over...Nira will look around the area. Are there any bloodstains elsewhere on the bridge?]

[thegardeners]

[If Nira looks up, she'll spot a tough-looking tree branch on the bridge, rolled about ten meters or so away from Cagliostro. It seems very out of place, almost clean-shaven and plucked of leaves. However, if she decides to investigate, there is no blood on it.

Huh... well. Okay, will she continue looking for bloodstains? It's a little hard to see, but there is an area of the bridge which is stained in blood. Particularly, there's a few darkened spots two meters or so from Cagliostro, near the sharp bride barriers that (attempt) to stop people from falling into the lake...]

[ladyporthos]

[Well...she'll pick up the branch. Does it match the bruise in shape? And is there any blood on the barrier itself?]

[thegardeners]

[Nope, the bruise on her forehead does not match the tree branch. If you look closer, the bruise... looks a little like a punch? Hm, then what's this branch for...

In any case, once Nira looks around, she'll see that one of the sharp barriers is darker than the best. That's because its wood is stained with blood. Ouch.]

[ladyporthos]

Was this meant to be the weapon...? [Either way, it seems she's been moved. Although it seems pretty obvious what killed her either way...]

[sundiet]

[From elsewhere, a strange being approaches.

It's a black dog sniffing around, until he raise his head and see Nira. He stay where he is, until he looks and see... Cagliostro's body?

And he slowly approaches it.]

[eyeofcute]

[EW DONT COME SO CLOSE]

[sundiet]

[SHUT UP, HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS AS WELL]

[ladyporthos]

[...a dog? She hasn't seen one around. Still, she'll smile and extend a hand towards it. She likes animals. They don't sass you.] Hey boy. Where'd you come from?

[sundiet]

[Oh, huh, she's not running away. That's... rare, but it sometimes happened before.

The dog looks away from Cagliostro's body (ew, gross dead bloodied body smell) and up at Nira. He glances over its body, over at where he came from. Somewhere around there.]

[ladyporthos]

[Huh...did that dog just gesture to answer her question? Well, that's convenient. She holds out the branch.] Hey, can you smell anyone on this? Find that person, boy!

[sundiet]

[Just what does she think he is, a tracking dog? ... Well, the "dog" part is correct.

So for a moment, he... seems to have given her a look. But he brings his nose to the branch for a good sniff. Alright, what kind of scent can he pick up... and if he can smell any lingering scent that matches it.]

[thegardeners]

[Smells like peaches... and Cagliostro. In fact, if he follows the scent, he'll just lead it right back to her. If his nose is particularly sharp, he can smell another person's scent just barely lingering on it, but Cagliostro's is overwhelming and unmistakable.]

[sundiet]

[He follows the scent... right to Cagliostro's body. There's another scent, but it's hard for him to make out.

He looks over at Nira, and then at Cagliostro. Hm...]

Her scent. There's another person's on it, but hard to make out.

[The dog can talk!?]

[ladyporthos]

...so she was carrying it... [Why would she be doing that? And then she does a double-take.] You can talk?

[sundiet]

I guess she used it as a weapon. [And bonk the target with it? He seems to have roll his eyes.] Yeah, I can. I didn't earlier because I don't know what kind of person you are.

[He looks back at Cagliostro.] Guess while I'm here, might as well help out. Got anything I can check out for you?

[ladyporthos]

So she probably hit someone with it. Probably not very hard, but maybe she could have left a bruise. [She looks at Cagliostro's hands. Any bark or scratches that might come from holding a branch on them?]

[She blinks.] So you think I'm an okay person, then? And can you smell any other scent on here? It looks like someone punched her on the forehead...

[sundiet]

Well, you're not running away or pulling out arrows at me. [How oddly specific.] If you do anything sneaky, I'd bite you.

[Maybe. He nods and start sniffing around the area.]

[thegardeners]

[Bridge smells a bit bad-- well, other than the whole "someone died here" thing. There's some old and such-- like it's been wet for a few hours.

Though, the bridge nearby seems pretty dry-- maybe you should move Cagliostro's body?]

[sundiet]

[Wet and dry. Give him a moment...]

Think we can find more stuff if we move her body?

[Maybe her butt is hiding more clues underneath it.]

[thegardeners]

[If you move her body, you'll find that the back of her clothes, and the bridge, is completely wet. Hm, seems like she was wet before, but the part of her facing the sun was dried up.]

[ladyporthos]

[Nira tries to lift the body, but probably ends up dragging it. Her eyebrows go up.] Huh! Looks like she fell or got dumped in the lake at some point...or someone dumped water on the bridge. [While she's at it, she'll try to flip her over completely to see if there are any more marks on her back.]